BurmaNet News, November 5, 2004

[Editor]

November 5, 2004, Issue # 2595


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Two Myanmar ministers "permitted to retire"
South China Morning Post: A journey out of the crossfire
AP: For Myanmar's democracy movement, U.S. election was wonderful no
matter who won

ON THE BORDER
AFP: Indian army mounts anti-rebel crackdown in revolt-hit northeast
Bangkok Post: Relations with Burma; End to used-car smuggling seen
South China Morning Post: Boomtown sees backlash from its crucial Myanmese
workers

BUSINESS
Xinhua: Thai entrepreneurs in Myanmar to establish commerce chamber
Xinhua: Indian bank seeks operation in Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
M2 Presswire: European Union position on Burma "weak"

OPINION / OTHER
Nation: Better Thai-US relations may be elusive

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 5, Agence France Presse
Two Myanmar ministers "permitted to retire"

Yangon: The home and labour ministers in Myanmar's government have been
"permitted to retire" in the latest reshuffle following the ousting of
prime minister General Khin Nyunt last month, state media announced late
Friday.

Home minister Colonel Tin Hlaing and labour minister Tin Winn -- also a
minister at the Office of the Prime Minister -- were the latest victims in
a power struggle among the top ranks of the military regime.

The pair were seen as allies of former premier Khin Nyunt, who was also
intelligence chief, who was abruptly sacked for corruption on October 17
and placed under house arrest.

They have been replaced in the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC),
Myanmar's government, by two hardliners loyal to the junta's top man,
Senior General Than Shwe.

Major General Maung Oo, who was the military commander of the Western
region, has been appointed home minister and Minister of Science and
Technology U Thaung is the new labour minister.

Four deputy ministers have also been dismissed in the reshuffle, according
to state television.

_____________________________________

November 5, South China Morning Post
A journey out of the crossfire – Phil Thornton

As evidence mounts that the military junta has reneged on ceasefire
agreements with Karen rebels, Phil Thornton follows two wounded innocents,
a mother and her son, on a harrowing two-day flight to safety

They emerge from the mist like ghosts. A thin single file, sliding and
slipping down the mountain; soldiers and porters trying to keep the
stretchers from falling.

Inside one of the green plastic sheets tied to a bamboo pole a woman
whimpers from fear and the piece of shrapnel lodged in her gut. Behind is
her son, aged 11. His foot is shattered and bloody, his forearm injured,
and he is hot from fever and the piece of mortar round buried in his
flesh.

Mother and son are villagers from Hti Per, a two-day walk from the
Thai-Myanmar border and medical care. To get that care, the party has to
walk over four steep mountain ridges, across 22 flooded rivers - and avoid
Myanmar army patrols and landmines. There are no ambulances, shops,
telephones or bottled drinking water. Everything needed for the trip has
to be carried.

Mortar shrapnel wounded the woman, her son and her eldest daughter when 10
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) soldiers aligned to the Myanmar
military attacked their house.

I started this trip with a team of health workers carrying medical
supplies to a clinic inside Myanmar.

Along the way the medic travelling with our party was inundated by
requests from villagers and people on mountain tracks wanting medicine for
ailments that included fever, malaria and anaemia. When news of the
conflict came over the army radio and it was known that the woman and boy
would have to be sent to the border for emergency treatment, I decided to
stay and wait for the stretcher-bearers. The medic and porters carrying
supplies continued to Hti Per and tried to give what assistance they
could.

The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) officer leading the rescue party
back to the border says the ceasefire, when it works, is good, but those
moments are rare. "It's not only soldiers who get shot, but villagers are
caught up in it as well," he says.

The officer says the closer the Thai border is, the better the ceasefire
seems to work. "We were ambushed in June when we brought medicine to
displaced villagers. In July, we had to evacuate a village after soldiers
attacked a school with mortar and rifle grenades. The closer to the border
the better the situation, but the deeper you go inside the worse it gets."

If Karen National Union (KNU) radio intercepts are to be relied on, the
border situation will get worse. On August 27, [Myanmese] Strategy
Commander 773 ordered: "{hellip} all Battalions under my control to attack
KNLA positions along the Moei River [Thai border] and clean them out."

A stack of logged radio orders sit on a rough wooden tabletop in a small
bamboo hut on the edge of a KNLA army camp. Translated, they talk about
ambushing KNLA positions and confirming that Major Myo Min Aung from
Myanmar 59 Battalion Column 2 will combine with Battalion 106 under the
command of Myint Khaing "to attack KNLA 202 Battalion on September 17
2004". A patrolling Karen soldier was killed in the most recent incident.

Speaking before the recent drama in Yangon, Padho Mahn Sha, KNU general
secretary, says that for the ceasefire to work it needs a neutral third
party to mediate. "We'd ask the UN, but the regime won't accept that. They
fear international involvement. They keep saying it's an internal problem
and we can resolve the issues between ourselves. That's nonsense. The
international community has to get involved because Myanmar's an
international problem."

Mr Mahn Sha says Myanmar's appalling human rights and drug producing
records were enough proof that Myanmar should be a concern to both the UN
and Asean. "Burma is the world's second-biggest producer of heroin and the
biggest supplier of methamphetamines.

"Refugees continue to pour over the borders of our neighbours, migrant
workers do the same, the generals run the country illegally after failing
to recognise the results of the 1991 elections. [There are] human rights
abuses, child soldiers, systematic rapes, forced labour and the
environment is a disaster. Even Asean meetings fail because they don't
know how to deal with Burma's unresolved internal problems.

"We've asked them to let East Timor be involved, but they don't want any
other outside group involved."

Villagers in this part of Karen state use bamboo poles instead of hardwood
to support their houses. "We have plenty of wood in the forest, but we
don't use it. They only burn them," says Chit Chee, 18.

"We've been told by the DKBA not to take medicine from the KNLA or they
will kill us. Last year they came and tortured our men to force us to
leave. They don't want us to let the KNLA stay here. The DKBA are not like
Karen anymore." Chit Chee has witnessed her parents being bullied and
tortured. "When I was 14, our village was burnt down, I took what I could
carry and ran. They pointed their guns and I could feel the bullets
chasing me."

She says hiding in remote places is tough. "I'm not happy here, but I've
no choice. We have to travel if we need oil, salt and rice. We sell wild
fruit, pigs, chickens or alcohol to make money to buy what we need at
places four days' walk there and back."

Chit Chee says she doesn't understand the DKBA. "If they ask us for
something and if we have it we will give it to them because we're all
Karen, but I think their heart is not like a Karen anymore." Chit Chee may
be right. Divisive tactics have been used before to try to confuse the
situation.

Military expert Professor Desmond Ball from the Australian National
University Strategic and Defence Studies Centre agrees. "It's not the
first time these tactics have been used. Prior to the East Timor
independence referendum in 1999, the Indonesia military armed, paid and
ordered Timorese militia gangs to terrorise and kill their own villagers.

"It's not a surprise the military junta are using the DKBA to confuse the
situation and make it appear the fighting is an internal Karen tribal war.
It distances them from the fighting and lets them off the hook if the
ceasefire talks break down."

Meanwhile, it's not military strategies bleeding on the bamboo hut floor,
but people. Outside the skies dump rain, making the mountain pass a
mudslide. The stretcher-bearers say tomorrow's walk will be hard. The
wounded woman is thirsty and hungry, but is afraid to eat or drink in case
her insides have been perforated, and no one in our group is qualified to
advise. The nearest medical assistance is still 12 hours away. The woman
cries throughout the night. At 3.50am loud gunshots panic the villagers
out of sleep. But nothing eventuates except fear.

As mist peels off the mountains, the mother and child are placed in the
stretchers and we leave for the border. Porters and soldiers take turns to
carry the injured, stopping only to rest when fallen trees, boulders and
backbreaking hills have been beaten.

After six hours of slog through mud, water and rocks, a health worker and
relief porters meet up with us. Stretchers are placed on a small piece of
shaded ground and an IV drip is attached to the woman. The sight of the
needle breaking her skin forces her to cover her head with a blanket.

It will take another five hours crossing the jungle covering the Dawna
Ranges before the woman and child can leave the confines of their
sweltering makeshift plastic stretchers. The last stretch of the rescue
mission is the most hazardous as it passes through DKBA positions and
minefields. The latter is a terrifying prospect, as the IV keeps catching
on overhead branches requiring someone to walk off the narrow path to free
it. Keeping single file is difficult in the mud and on the steep downward
slope.

Mines washed bare of earth can be seen a footstep away from the edge of
the track. Adding to the anxiety, radio static confirmed the KNLA's 202
Battalion has been attacked and a large contingent of DKBA and Myanmar
army soldiers are moving through the area.

The last ridge has been topped, but downhill brings its own problems. The
welcome sound of a longtail boat's engine cuts through the jungle. It has
come to take the patients to a medical clinic. But keeping the stretchers
from falling on the greasy path to the river is proving difficult. The
porters struggle to overcome the thick mud, the last obstacle before the
mother and son can be taken to safety.

A relieved Karen officer looks at the grateful faces of his charges and
says: "They're safe now, but our people have no security. This ceasefire
has no rules. Responsibilities and rules have to be spelt out for all
sides and strictly followed - otherwise how can we stop this suffering?"

In spite of the gathering mountain of evidence to suggest the ceasefire is
nothing more than a ruse by the regime to prevent them sharing political
power with opposition and ethnic groups, and ignoring condemnation by the
UN, EU and the US, the Myanmar generals still allow their soldiers to
loot, force villagers to work for nothing and deal in drugs.

Infrastructure, except for Myanmar military use, is virtually
non-existent. Many children are forced to drop out of school to help
parents farm. In years to come this will be a national tragedy.

The KNU's Padho Mahn Sha is worried the international community will be
fooled by the regime's skullduggery. "If the junta is sincere we can solve
Burma's problems, but if they're not serious the killing and human right
abuses will continue. Don't forget their soldiers and the DKBA both get
their orders from Rangoon."

_____________________________________

November 4, Associated Press
For Myanmar's democracy movement, U.S. election was wonderful no matter
who won

Yangon: Myanmar's beleaguered opposition party has praised the way the
U.S. presidential election was held, saying their military-ruled country
should emulate America.

Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a
landslide victory in a 1990 general election, but the military never
allowed it to take power.

The ruling junta has since then kept the party under pressure, cracking
down last year by closing its offices and detaining its leaders including
Suu Kyi.

While negative campaigning and the vagaries of the electoral college
system may turn off many Americans, NLD leaders said Thursday U.S.-style
democracy looked more than fair.

"I watched the closely contested U.S. election with great admiration
because it clearly demonstrates the maturity of a democratic nation," NLD
spokesman U Lwin told The Associated Press.

U Lwin said Democratic challenger John Kerry showed his maturity by
conceding defeat and calling for unity.

"We must emulate and take as an example the way both leaders reacted to
the election victory," said U Lwin.

In contrast, Myanmar's military leaders have refused to even sit down and
talk with Suu Kyi, he noted.

_____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 5, Agence France Presse
Indian army mounts anti-rebel crackdown in revolt-hit northeast

Guwahati: India's army has launched an operation against rebel bases in
the remote northeast and neighbouring Myanmar has sealed its border to
stop the entry of fleeing insurgents, a spokesman said Friday.

Some 7,500 security personnel have surrounded the bases of three
influential outlawed militant groups in Manipur state's Bishenpur and
Churachandpur districts bordering Myanmar, army spokesman Major S.D.
Goswami told AFP.

Around 1,500 guerrilla fighters were believed to be in between 50 and 70
rebel bases, he said.

The operation in the densely forested terrain against the rebels began a
month ago, he said, but was only disclosed Friday.

India's seven northeastern states, home to more than 200 tribal and ethnic
groups, has been a hotbed of insurgencies since 1947 independence from
Britain.

Neighbouring Myanmar has sealed its side of the porous border to prevent
insurgents sneaking into its territory, the major said.

"The militants are getting choked from all sides with our soldiers zeroing
in on their bases in Manipur."

Disclosure of the operation came a week after Myanmar's military strongman
General Than Shwe ended a visit to India with a pledge the junta would not
let Indian rebels operate from his nation's soil.

Myanmar troops were waiting across the border to repulse any move by the
rebels to cross into their territory, Goswami said.

"This is an offensive by the Indian army. The Myanmarese are simply
guarding their frontiers."

At least 13 separatists have been killed and 34 captured along with a
number of weapons in the operation aimed at members of the United National
Liberation Front, the People's Liberation Army and smaller outfits.

There are around 20 militant groups in Manipur who have been battling for
decades for greater autonomy or independence.

They say they are trying to protect their ethnic identities and accuse New
Delhi of plundering resources of the mineral, tea, timber and oil-rich
region.

The announcement of the crackdown came after a rebel group in neighbouring
Nagaland state said Thursday Myanmar was preparing to launch a military
drive to evict Indian separatists from its soil.

Yangon has moved hundreds of soldiers to parts of northern Myanmar, said
Kughalo Mulatonu, a leader of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland
which is fighting for a tribal homeland in Nagaland.

Goswami said the Manipur operation was "pressuring militants to come
forward for peace talks with the Indian government."

"The progress of the operation is so far very encouraging," Goswami said,
adding Myanmar's sealing of the border had helped.

Manipur has been the scene of massive protests this year against an
anti-terror law giving the army powers to shoot on sight suspected rebels.

Many of the 30 rebel groups in the northeast have bases in northern
Myanmar, as well as Bhutan and Bangladesh, from where they attack Indian
soldiers, India says. More than 50,000 people have died in
insurgency-related violence since 1947.

Last December, Bhutan launched a military operation to drive out Indian
separatists from bases in the kingdom. Bangladesh told New Delhi this
month it would not permit anti India insurgent groups to use its
territory.

_____________________________________

November 5, Bangkok Post
Relations with Burma; End to used-car smuggling seen - Supamart Kasem

Tak -- Used car exports from Thailand to Burma, illegal under Burmese
trade law, may come to an end with the new Rangoon government's crackdown
on corruption and smuggling.

A Burmese vendor, who was in Tak's Mae Sot district to buy goods for sale
in Burma, said Rangoon had seized cars worth more than 100 million baht
about a week after Gen Khin Nyunt lost his job as prime minister on Oct
19. These included used cars imported from Thailand by Burma's Military
Intelligence Services (MIS).

Rangoon has long banned used car imports, but influential figures in
Burma's border areas smuggle hundreds of used cars from Thailand and China
into Burma every year by paying border officials and MIS officers to turn
a blind eye.

Used cars have been sent through Burmese customs from Mae Hong Son, Tak,
Kanchanaburi and Ranong even though this was illegal in Burma.

Mae Sot customs officer Banpot Wongthai said used car exports to Burma
have slowed down since Oct 2. Cars from Mae Sot have dropped to under 10 a
month, down from about 80 a month.

But all the vehicles have remained stranded at the border since Oct 2, he
said.

Mr Banpot said used car exports were legal under Thai law, but added he
did not know about Burmese law. Customs officers must serve importers and
exporters who complied with Thai law or they would face punishment for
negligence of duty, he said.

A merchant from Moulmein in Burma's Mon state said car dealers there
usually bring used cars into the country via Chedi Sam Ong checkpoint in
Kanchanaburi and hire drivers to take the cars 150km from the border to
Moulmein.

The used car trade has been booming in Moulmein in the last two years with
orders from several Burmese municipal authorities for Japanese sedans,
four-wheel-drive trucks, vans and other kinds of vehicles, the merchant
said.

_____________________________________

November 5, South China Morning Post
Boomtown sees backlash from its crucial Myanmese workers - Simon Montlake

Hundreds of factories are fuelled by a low-paid and dissatisfied workforce

Mae Sot: In his pea-green sarong and a blue Lazio soccer jersey, Moe Swe
attracts few glances from the Myanmese migrants who dominate this border
town.

But to the factory owners who rely on migrants to keep their sewing
machines humming, the bespectacled union activist is a man worth keeping
tabs on.

His efforts to safeguard worker rights have sent sparks flying in a town
of 200 garment factories that has boomed over the past decade.

Myanmese workers who take his advice and complain to Thai authorities
about wages and conditions can expect their photos to be circulated around
town, making it tough to find another job.

Some have suffered at the hands of thugs allegedly hired by factory bosses.

Others give up in frustration and return home to Myanmar empty-handed.

Moe Swe, who runs the Yaung Chi Oo Workers' Association, has also been
singled out. Last year he was forced to leave town for two months and
appeal to Thailand's Human Rights Commission for protection.

"Many times I've been followed by car or motorbike. We get people outside
our office shouting and causing trouble," he said.

About 130,000 Myanmese workers are registered in Tak province, where Mae
Sot is located. Analysts estimate 1 million migrants from Myanmar live in
Thailand, many working illegally.

For Thailand, the willingness of migrants to work in its sweatshops may
prove crucial to the survival of its garment industry.

Investors from Hong Kong and Taiwan are among those who rushed into Mae
Sot in the 1990s to take advantage of Thailand's clothes quotas and
surplus labour from the devastated Myanmar economy.

But the World Trade Organisation quota system for textiles and garments
will end on January 1, leaving buyers free to pick and chose from
suppliers.

Experts say China will be the biggest beneficiary, while Southeast Asia
could find itself squeezed out by low-cost competition.

Garments accounted for the bulk of Mae Sot's 5.6 billion baht ($1.06
billion) export earnings last year, according to the Federation of Thai
Industries.

About 80 per cent of garments produced in Mae Sot are shipped to Europe
and North America, including branded clothes and knitwear.

Activists argue that these factories are flouting Thai labour laws by
underpaying migrant workers and refusing to fund redundancies.

In a rare legal victory, 18 workers at Thai-owned Nut Knitting won 1.17
million baht in August in compensation for unfair dismissal.

Activists say the dismissed workers were beaten by gangs linked to the
company when they protested against their treatment.

A similar drama is being played out at another factory, Por Thaisun, that
fired most of its workforce last month after a drop in orders.

Thai labour law requires factories in Mae Sot to pay a minimum daily wage
of 135 baht and overtime for more than 48 hours a week.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS

November 5, Xinhua News Agency
Thai entrepreneurs in Myanmar to establish commerce chamber

Yangon: Thai entrepreneurs doing business in Myanmar are making
preparations for the establishment of the Myanmar-Thai Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (CCI) in the country, the local 7-Day news journal reported
Friday.

The Myanmar-Thai CCI will represent Thai merchants, industrialists and
services enterprises in Myanmar and will be organized by non-governmental
organizations, the Union of Myanmar Federation of CCI was quoted as
saying.

The Myanmar CCI, which represents local entrepreneurs, is cooperating with
its Thai counterpart for the establishment.

According to the Myanmar business organization, there has so far been over
120 Thai enterprises in Myanmar in trade, industry and services sectors.

In recent years, Myanmar-Thailand bilateral trade has witnessed a growth
with the value of 1.5 billion US dollars in 2003, the highest among
Myanmar's bilateral trade with other members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations.

Meanwhile, Thailand's investment in Myanmar had reached 1.31 billion
dollars as of the end of 2003, ranking the third after Singapore and
Britain.

Thailand's major business engagement in Myanmar went to oil and gas
exploration and production, coastal fishing operation and establishment of
industrial zones in the country's border areas as part of the economic
cooperation among four countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

_____________________________________

November 5, Xinhua News Agency
Indian bank seeks operation in Myanmar

Yangon: The Bank of India (BOI) is seeking to open a representative office
in Myanmar to carry out bank transactions dealing with imports and exports
between the two countries, a local news journal reported.

A delegation of the BOI, which is the second largest bank in India in the
government-private joint-venture status, made a visit here recently,
meeting with the Myanmar bank authorities for the move, the 7-Day said in
its latest issue.

Last May, India's largest bank, the State Bank of India (SBI), has also
made a similar move.

With the warming up of Myanmar-India relations in recent years, economic
and trade links between the two countries have been promoted with the role
of banks being more and more emphasized.

Over the period from 1997 to 2003, India granted 50 million US dollars'
credit to Myanmar for its industrial development and in July this year,
India was committed under a memorandum of understanding to providing a
line of credit worth over 56 million dollars for upgrading Myanmar's rail
transportation between Yangon and Mandalay.

Again in October this year, the Export-Import Bank of India ( Exim Bank)
extended a line of credit of 7 million dollars to Myanmar to finance two
telecom projects and a grant of 3 million dollars for information
technology-related projects.

Besides, bilateral trade between Myanmar and India has also increased. In
2003, the two countries' bilateral trade amounted to over 400 million
dollars with India standing as Myanmar's fourth largest trading partner
and the second largest export market, absorbing 25 percent of Myanmar's
total export.

India plans to increase its bilateral trade with Myanmar to 1 billion
dollars by 2006.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 5, M2 Presswire
European Union position on Burma "weak"

Brussels: The EU's common position on Burma is nothing short of "seriously
inadequate", said the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
(ICFTU) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) in a statement
released today. The two trade union bodies, which together represent over
150 million workers, said that the EU's position still has a long way to
go in terms of fully prohibiting multinational enterprises from having
business links with Burma (Myanmar), and that the EU is therefore failing
to fulfil its responsibility.

Whilst the ICFTU and ETUC welcomed international focus on the situation in
the south east Asian country, the EU common position came under criticism
for seemingly putting commercial interests before human rights.

"The new EU measures are highly unlikely to significantly affect the
financial income which Burmese generals tap daily from foreign investment
and international trade. Instead, they will be able to retain the
financial advantages they get from foreign involvement and continue to
assert their authority to the detriment of their citizens," said the ICFTU
today.

Areas of concern include the omission of some of the most important
Burmese state-owned enterprises from the annex to the EU position, which
is meant to be a list of Burmese companies which European enterprises are
prohibited to have certain links with. Surprisingly, companies such as
MOGE (Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise) fail to make the list despite the
fact that it operates in the oil and gas sector - a major source of income
for the authoritarian Burmese regime.

Further examples of companies omitted from the EU's list include the four
state- owned banks that are permitted to handle foreign exchange
transactions - the Central Bank of Burma, the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank,
the Myanmar Investment and Commercial Bank and the Myanmar Economic Bank -
as well as the Myanma Timber Enterprise and the Myanmar Post and Telecom
company.

Another problem with the EU common position is the fact that it is
permitted for European companies to continue to operate in Burma "if [the]
extension is compulsory under an agreement concluded with the Burmese
state-owned enterprise [...] before the entry into force of [the] common
position." In essence, this probably means that most enterprises that
already operate in Burma are welcome to stay.

Furthermore, potential new investors have, at first glance, not much to
fear either, as the new EU position only prohibits "the acquisition or
extension of a participation in Burmese State-Owned enterprises as
listed", "including the acquisition in full of such enterprises and the
acquisition of shares and securities of a participating nature." In the
end, this may not mean much, as the secretive and closed Burmese business
environment does not usually allow foreign companies to buy shares in
Burmese companies anyway.

Given that most large foreign investors in Burma are forced to set up a
joint-venture, any sanctions will be meaningless if they do not address
this issue. It is, at this point, unclear whether creating a new joint
venture in Burma, even with one of the listed State-owned companies, would
be prohibited under the new EU position. Any new joint venture could be
seen as a new company. It would therefore not be a 'listed' company and it
may not even be seen as state-owned. Such joint ventures, unless they are
considered as "acquisition or extension of a participation in Burmese
State-Owned enterprises", would therefore not fall under the scope of the
EU measures.

Earlier anticipated problems also remain as the EU position uses a list of
named companies. It may well be that the only thing the Burmese junta has
to do to circumvent the sanctions is to set up a new company or rename
one, something which, in Burma's business environment, can easily be done
overnight.

The adoption of weak measures on Burma is especially regrettable since it
follows two recent events that strengthened the position of the dictators
of Burma: the admission of Burma into ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting*) and the
ultra-hardliners' recent consolidation of power in what is already a
hard-line dictatorship. Burma was accepted into ASEM on 9 October 2004 in
a move seen as a political victory by Burmese generals (related ICFTU
press release
http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991220644&Language=EN). One
week later, the Burmese military deposed the country's Prime Minister, Lt.
General Khin Nyunt, placing him under arrest.

"There is much concern that admitting Burma into ASEM has only
strengthened the regime's belief in its highly undemocratic cause" said
the ICFTU. "We now face a scenario where the release of Aung San Suu Kyi
and other opposition leaders, as well as the opposition NLD party's
ability to operate freely, seem even further away. In fact, never was the
need for a strong EU position on Burma greater".

The ICFTU said it would plead for a strengthening of measures against
Burma's military regime during the forthcoming meeting of the
International Labour Organisation (ILO) Governing Body, scheduled to
discuss Burma on 18 November in Geneva. Last June, the ILO Conference had
given Rangoon until November to take effective measures aimed at
preventing forced labour and to release several detained leaders of the
underground Federation of Trade Unions - Burma (FTUB) from jail, or face a
strengthening of measures adopted against Burma in June 2000. The ILO June
meeting had for the first time made a specific reference to foreign direct
investment (FDI).

(*) ASEM is the Asia-Europe Meeting, created in 1996 between the then 15
member states of the European Union and 10 countries of the Asia-Pacific
region (Brunei, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).

For more information on the ICFTU and ETUC's earlier recommendations for
the EU's common position Burma, please click here:
http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991220608&Language=EN

The European Council's common position is available here:
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2004/l_323/l_32320041026en001
70022.pdf

The ICFTU regularly publishes lists of multinational companies operating
in Burma:
http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991220263&Language=EN

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 4, The Nation
Better Thai-US relations may be elusive - Don Pathan

With US President George W Bush declaring victory and announcing a new
"season of hope", the conventional thinking in Bangkok is that this will
be an opportunity for the two countries to turn over a new leaf.

The saga of these past four years, tainted by a number of hiccups, can be
brought to a close and a new leaf turned over. Or so the thinking goes.

But not so fast, say political insiders in Washington and elsewhere.

The disputes between the two countries, mostly generated by Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra's knee-jerk comments and inflated foreign policy these
past four years, have been too many to let bygones be bygones, they said.

>From Thaksin's comment about America being a "useless friend" following a
US State Department report expressing concern over the questionable death
of nearly 3,000 people during the controversial three-month drug war, to
his declaration of "neutrality" in the post-9/11 terrorist attacks , not
to mention Thailand's confusing position in the US-led global war on
terrorism , these were just too much for some in the US Congress to be
optimistic.

>From loose-lips deputy prime ministers to a "yes man" foreign minister,
there was no one around to put a lid on Thaksin and his knee-jerk
statements that would come back to haunt him. No one would dare, it
seemed.

Political insiders in Congress say that when the new administration is in
place, it is certain there will be enough support in the upper and lower
houses, among both Democrats and Republicans, to push for a review of
Thai-US relations, taking into consideration the good and the bad.

And although the bad may not outweigh the good at this particular
juncture, it will be enough to rock the boat.

What disturbed many in the US government and Congress is that Thaksin
believed that speaking out against international terrorism gave him a
green light to do as he pleased.

The telecom tycoon-cum-politician thought that by declaring himself
against international terrorists, he could get the Americans off his back
over his controversial policies , be it the drug war, economic ties with
Burma or his tacit approval of the heavy-handed treatment of ethnic-Malay
Muslims in the South.

By the way, he was wrong.

Observers said it never occurred to Thaksin that his controversial
policies would haunt him down the road. Either Thaksin overlooked the
checks and balances in the American political system that allows Congress
a big say in foreign policy or he just didn't think anyone would make a
big stink out of any of it.

The Leahy Amendment, for example, stipulates that no US tax money could be
granted to any unit found to have been carrying out extrajudicial
killings.

Thaksin has dismissed US financial assistance to Thailand as small and
insignificant, but an accusation like that could result in political
fallout that would take a lot of time and energy to patch up.

On Burma, Senator Mitch McConnell, chairman of the US Senate
Appropriations Committee, suggested on the floor that Thai-Burmese
relations may have been shaped by the Thaksin family's investments in the
troubled-plague country.

In line with his reputation, Thaksin shot back fiercely. The Thai premier
was given a dose of reality during his last visit to Washington when
President Bush told him to get off McConnell's back, describing the US
senator as a respectable and influential lawmaker.

Trying to be everything to everybody, Thaksin has managed to rub people
the wrong way.

During his first two years in office, Thaksin made numerous trips to
China, trying to impress his Chinese hosts and make Thailand appear as an
equal in their eyes.

And when special recognition from Beijing failed to materialise, Thaksin
swung back hard towards Washington. The result was dispatching Thai troops
to Afghanistan and Iraq and capturing Hambali, the main al-Qaeda operative
in Southeast Asia, whose arrest marked the end of denials that there were
no terrorist cells operating on Thai soil.

But while Thaksin was flopping back and forth between Beijing and
Washington, along the way he lost a great deal of credibility. A recent
report from the Far Eastern Economic Review indicated that Washington
could see right through Thaksin.

FEER quoted a US official as saying there was no way that Washington would
support Thailand's bid to field Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai as
the next UN secretary-general, because the country is perceived as a
Chinese stooge.

Thailand may have sent troops , albeit half-heartedly , to Afghanistan and
Iraq to take part in the US-led multinational coalition. But what turns
many off is that back in Thailand, Thaksin did all he could to
disassociate himself from Washington, maintaining that the troops went to
Iraq strictly under a UN mandate that called for humanitarian assistance
for the Iraqi people.

Thai Muslims protesting the war called his explanation an insult to their
intelligence, saying they would have respected him more if he had
justified the decision in terms of Thai-US relations.

Moreover, Thaksin's use of nationalistic rhetoric whenever he is put on
the spot over his handling of the South has driven an even bigger wedge
into the fabric of this society.